The present invention relates to resilient seals for use in gas turbines or other devices requiring a sealing function between separate components, and particularly to a pre-compressed seal and method for retaining the pre-compressed seal in a pre-compressed state for installation into a gas turbine. In particular, the present invention relates to seals used in equipment typically divided into portions of a complete ring to facilitate assembly due to scale or complexity.
In a gas turbine, hot gases flow through components of the various turbine and compressor stages. To minimize or prevent leakage flow between turbine engine components, seals have been developed and disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,648,333 and 6,932,353, which describe seals having reversely folded marginal portions received in a cavity formed between two components. At operating conditions, the marginal portions seal against the base of the cavity and an adjacent turbine component to prevent leakage flow past the turbine components. To install the seal, the seal body is first compressed and maintained in a compressed state by applying one or more wraps about the seal body or a clip or an epoxy. At operating temperatures, the wrap, clip or epoxy burns off and releases the seal to engage the marginal portions against opposite sealing surfaces of the two components. Among other limitations, debris created as the wrap, clip or epoxy burns off may travel through the gas turbine and damage turbine components.